Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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1127. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the reason there is no grant-aid or other incentive available for the installation of photovoltaic solar systems to households, when there are such incentives for solar thermal heating; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22205/15]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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As the Deputy notes, under the Better Energy Homes scheme, a grant of €800 was available to homeowners who wish to install a solar thermal heating system in their home. In March of this year I announced a 50% increase to the grant support available for solar thermal heating solutions; homeowners can now, therefore, receive a grant of €1,200 for solar thermal heating systems. Separately, while it is a matter in which I, as Minister, have no statutory function, I am aware that Electric Ireland had been offering a micro-generation feed-in tariff since February 2009. On the 31st December 2014 the pilot scheme was closed to new customers.

No other electricity supplier had chosen to provide such a tariff, to either domestic or commercial customers, though they have been invited to do so by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) which is an independent statutory body. I am not aware of the reasons for the decision to discontinue the scheme which would have been a commercial matter for Electric Ireland

My Department is giving further policy consideration to the place of microgeneration in our energy mix. Analysis of the potential of micro-generation technologies such as small scale wind, solar and small scale hydro, has been carried out for the Department by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. It shows that while microgeneration has the technical potential to make a significant contribution to Irish electricity consumption, careful consideration would have to be given to the design of any potential future support scheme to ensure it is cost-effective. The SEAI's findings, along with responses to the recent consultation on the Green Paper on Energy Policy in Ireland, will be taken into consideration in preparation of the White Paper on Energy which will be finalised in the autumn of this year.

My Department is also commencing the process of developing a new support scheme for electricity, to be available from 2016 onwards. A key component of this will be consideration of the available technologies, including microgeneration and solar PV, their cost effectiveness and the level of support required. The scheme will be subject to State Aid clearance and the initial public consultation on the new scheme will commence shortly.